AnnieUK:
Holy smoke! OK, interesting and all, folks, but can I throw *just a fic* in here somewhere in the hopes of maintaining a sense of perspective.

If I were to go back and change/edit out all that Rhiannon stuff and make Bran the best father in the world to her, then I would consider myself entitled to do so, because it's my interpretation/extrapolation of what we've been shown by KK. (Not that I'm going to, because I am *so* over Richenda LOL)

All of us sharing stuff on here are making the fics interesting (or at least readable, and you've made it through a LOT of words, so I assume you've found it at least that) by manipulating the characters and putting them in situations they find uncomfortable. I chose to make Bran not bothered about Rhiannon based on what we have see of him with Richenda (pretty indifferent, really) so slag me off if you want, but that's how it worked out. :P

And to be fair, part of it was because (however gorgeous Alaric is) I've always struggled with the whole Alaric/Richenda thing. For her to fall for him that fast there is no way she was in any sort of happy relationship or she would have resisted the attraction more strongly, and that night in the tent when she reveals herself as Deryni, it's her doing most of the running! She's seen him twice - St Torins and Dhassa - and she's practically throwing herself at him. ;)

I will debate canon as passionately as anyone, but I admit to a bit of bemusement at all of this. :D

Evie:
No worries, no one is going to slag you over your portrayal of Bran and Richenda...at least I'm certainly not, and I don't think that's Elkhound's intention either, though he can certainly speak for himself. Your portrayal of the characters, in my opinion, certainly fits in with the glimpses we've been shown of them both in the books. Bran does seem quite indifferent to Richenda in pretty much every scene where they're mentioned together (when he's writing her the letter, for instance), and he seems downright hostile towards the thought of her getting Brendan back after the Duel Arcane, though granted, given that she tried to kill him (in defense of Brendan) when they last met, one can understand a bit of ire on his part. :D But there's absolutely nothing in the books to indicate that he values her at all; his love seems quite exclusively focused on his son, and that's what your portrayal of him and his likely indifference to a daughter builds on, so there's certainly nothing to slag in that! Now, had you introduced Richenda as the torch-singing seductress who vamped innocent young Bran into a life of sin and organized crime, then ditched him after he got nabbed by the Feds to run off with handsome mob boss Alaric...well, then, the firebombing might well commence, given that you'd have written the characters in a wildly divergent way from how KK created them, and Sister Therese of Nyford would be giggling and demanding her under-the-table copy to add to her library of Wildly Inappropriate Deryni Tales To Give DesertRose Palpitations! ;D

Discussions have a way of starting out at least somewhat on topic, but then veering off to unexpected avenues. In this case, it seems to have been launched by a misinterpretation of someone's comment, but then took on a life of its own that is only tangentially related to the storyline. Some of my stories ended up generating commentary that ventured off into exploring all sorts of arcana--Transfer Portals and prevalence thereof, the limits of Absolute Monarchy, keyboard history, and my all-time favorite, the Deryni Opera! I was not expecting to come back from a weekend vacation to that!!! But it was educational, I spent a fun hour or so looking up singers on YouTube and other parts of the Internet, and while I'm not at all convinced that Derry was singing to Celsie in a style even remotely resembling opera, at least the story sparked conversation. And if anyone wants to turn my upcoming Arilan story into a rock opera, I'll even submit Sting into consideration as Walter--not that he looks at all the part, but I've seen him play a villain in the 1980s movie version of DUNE, so I'm pretty certain he can sing his way through a sociopath's role. :D

AnnieUK:
Oh, I wasn't meaning it like that, just that I was a little bemused that one person's interpretation of events had somehow become set in stone. I mean tomorrow someone could post another version of events with a totally different slant, and each would be totally valid, since we are simply speculating about what happened.

I would bring to the table the thought that someone who can behead and impale the bodies of a defeated enemy to demoralise their countrymen is unlikely to be the Gwyneddan version of Mary Poppins. Would you want this man near *your* 4 year old? ;)

*Skin thickening even as we speak*

Evie:

--- Quote from: AnnieUK on January 12, 2011, 11:55:32 AM ---I would bring to the table the thought that someone who can behead and impale the bodies of a defeated enemy to demoralise their countrymen is unlikely to be the Gwyneddan version of Mary Poppins. Would you want this man near *your* 4 year old? ;)

--- Quote from: AnnieUK on January 12, 2011, 11:55:32 AM ---I would bring to the table the thought that someone who can behead and impale the bodies of a defeated enemy to demoralise their countrymen is unlikely to be the Gwyneddan version of Mary Poppins. Would you want this man near *your* 4 year old? ;)--- End quote ---

And who has suggested this?

But consider, the book version and the film version of Mary Poppins are very different.